Friday, May 06, 2011

Two big defeats for the GOP

"It seemed like such a good idea at the time..."

Two big surrenders by the GOP on the domestic front. According to the New York Times, top Republican aides, quoted anonymously have a pretty bleak assessment of the current political climate. "It is a big problem,” one aide said. “Things are unraveling."

Health care repeal is dead

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) said Thursday that repeal of the 2010 health care legislation is "dead."

Quoting Mr. Camp: "Obviously, I voted to repeal the bill and you pretty much know where I am on replacement because I put out a bill last year on that. Is the repeal dead? I don’t think the Senate is going to do it, so I guess, yes."

Sour news for Tea Party folks. All that sturm und drang that the GOP stirred up with their talk about "death panels" and "socialized" medicine may have helped them win control of the House, but in the end it comes to nothing.

But there is more...

Paul Ryan budget is dead

Now that GOP representatives have had a little taste of some down-home grass-roots fury at their town halls, they can't run from the Paul Ryan budget plan fast enough. Check what Speaker Boehner had to say: “It’s Paul’s idea. Other people have other ideas. I’m not wedded to one single idea, but I think it’s — we have a plan. Where’s the president’s plan to deal with the nightmare that’s facing Americans?”

That, my friends, is called "throwing Paul Ryan under the bus." So much for all that Ayn Rand claptrap.

But there is still a problem, Republicans. Remember that vote you took back on April 15th? When all but 4 of you said "yea" to the Ryan budget? Now you must explain to your constituents (Tea Party folks and everyone else) why you voted to end Medicare as we know it.

It will be interesting to see how Senate Republicans vote when Harry Reid brings the Ryan budget to the floor in the upper body. One can practically hear Mitch McConnell's sour lament: "Why, thank you so very much, Mr. Boehner."